Nicaragua: Day Two!

Today we spent some time in Citalapa, bought our remaining supplies, and prepped for the week ahead. I feel like we haven’t done much movement, but man is the sun and heat draining! As soon as we ate lunch on campus, we treated ourselves to our only siesta (read, nap) of our trip. But we’re excited and ready to move forward in sharing God’s love for people in Nicaragua!

As the van rolled into Citalapa, a stream of kids came running out. We weren’t out of the van but maybe 15 seconds before they gave us hugs and held our hands — they even took right to our new team members. This is Heather with two very sweet little girls.

We visited the bridge we painted two years ago. The paint has held up fairly well, all things considering. In the rainy season, when the other road is flooded, this is their only way out of their village.

And really, it would be a visit to Citalapa without a rousing game of Duck, Duck, Goose

After our visit, a few of us headed into Managua to buy our supplies. Managua is about a 45-minute drive from where we’re staying in Los Cedros, but it’s a totally different world! Lanes on the road aren’t so much enforced laws as they are guidelines of where you should be, but our friend, driver, translator extraordinaire, Joel, is an excellent driver. He amazes me how he can maneuver his 15-passenger van into tight parking spaces with such perfection!

Skit practice for VBS. Frank is playing Goliath, while Nate, playing David, prepares for battle…

…. right after he takes a swig of his water from the fridge haha

After dinner, we had our first group devotion. We’re reading John Piper’s Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, because that’s what we want to portray. We talked a bit about how vast the universe is and how we’re such a tiny speck in God’s plan; it’s amazing to me that as tiny and small as I am, God loves me so much. I reflected on my outlook on life before Christ — pointless and doubtful — but with Christ, I have been given a new hope and a direct purpose in life. It is this hope and direction we want to communicate to our friends in Citalapa. Some of our new members who haven’t seen this kind of poverty before commented on how easy it is to focus on it. And even though we are hosting a few community lunches and even though we have brought bags and bags of things to give them, what we really want is for them to see past the things we’re giving them and be able to understand the message we’re trying to convey. So, that’s our prayer tonight: That even through our sinful nature, God’s glory and grace be shown through us in such a way that captivates every heart there and that we see and savor all that Christ is.